Tag Archives: change

Russell Brand has thrown down a gauntlet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pkHe has forcefully stated what we all know, that the cosy Parliamentary political process works to protect the interests of the land-and-wealth-holding 1% that is manifestly uninterested in the well-being of the 99%. He also states that the majority of that 99% have lost both interest and confidence in the political process; witness the falling turn-outs in elections, that reached shockingly low levels of less that 20% in the Police Commissioner elections last year.

In advocating revolution he was giving voice to the sense of disempowerment felt among people he knew – he clearly keeps contact with his roots despite his recent acquisition of fame and wealth. He is expressing anger with the political establishment, an anger that not only he feels, but many feel as they turn away from the electoral political process and try to find some other vehicle to bring their existence and their plight to the attention to those who have power.

It is clear to us all that this Parliament is not that vehicle – and that is a tragedy. Over generations brave, selfless and far sighted people have wrested power, clause by clause, from the Barons who claimed their legitimacy from the rights of conquest. That attitude, the absolute right to hold and exercise power without question or challenge, still underpins the British Establishment. Every concession is grudgingly given. They will never rest until each is taken back and we return to the condition of serfdom. Austerity is a step in this direction, taking back our economic gain. Next will come disenfranchisement.

Brand’s initial, repeated call on people not to vote would play into the very hands he identifies as the robber’s. Not voting hurts no one but ourselves. The power structure couldn’t care less. If no one voted, they would claim power by default; they see it as theirs as of right. If people don’t bother to vote, there will be less need for them to spend their stolen money on propaganda, after all, their own faithful followers can always be relied on to turn out. Tories are more likely to vote than any other persuasion. Why bother to go to the hassle of formally disenfranchising the people if they do it to themselves? Once again we are divided against ourselves, working against our own interests and playing into the hands of our rulers and masters.

A call to revolution does have a certain heroic ring, ‘man the barricades’ – storm the citadels of power, smash a few busts of the great and pompous – then what? Historically revolution has failed to deliver a better order and the price is sickeningly high. The world is in a mess and the last thing we need is the diversion of revolution. As Brand rightly points out the planet is in danger, government is broken, and people are suffering. Parliament either doesn’t care or is powerless to act in the interest of the majority – things have to change.

But revolution? No! We just haven’t time. Revolution would set the clock back, we would have to invent new structures, go in for endless arguments, assassinations, plot and counter-plot, the wealth might change hands, but it would stay in a few hands and those hands would stay on the tiller. Remember the outcome of the Russian Revolution; new rulers, same privileges, the people still shivering out on the street, disenfranchised.

Democracy is broken and it is up to us, the Greens, to mend it. There is no one else to do it. We can do this through engagement, by making demands of Parliament, by holding Parliamentarians to account, by knowing what they are up to, by letting them know that we know what they are up to, by being aware of where the power in this country lies and by not being taken in by the propaganda machine that is the media and press. And we need a clear programme. Political protest, even revolution, without a manifesto achieves nothing. That is why Occupy fizzled out. It asked many pertinent questions but it came up with no answers. It did not develop a programme of action.

We have had two generations of protest; protest against the bomb, against war, against hunger and poverty, against cruelty, against unjust taxation, against austerity. Protest is like a safety valve, it allows people to let off steam, it lets them feel that they are doing something, it allows spokesmen for the power structure to make pious statements about listening and sharing concerns, it sends us home thinking we have taken action and nothing changes. Why? Because at the next election the ballot boxes tell a different story. People vote for the business as usual parties as they are bidden to do by the propaganda machine, and a new conservative party is installed. Those who don’t vote are dismissed as apathetic, not interested, not bothered, so no need to take account of their opinions because they have expressed no opinion.

Protest without a clear manifesto that lays out the action that we are demanding, is going to achieve nothing. We still have the bomb, we are still at war, and there is still poverty and cruelty, now joined by hunger. OK, we might have defeated the poll tax – but think why. The Tories were about to lose an election, public opinion was swinging against them, which galvanised action; they scrapped the poll tax and made us pay by raising taxes. The protests died away, they won the next election, and it was back to business as usual. The focus of protest was too narrow, there was no other programme.

We cannot argue with Russell Brand’s analysis. We are drenched in analysis, the airwaves are full of it but what we need desperately is solutions. And Brand’s initial solution will not work. It will not put us in any better position, why should it?

What really stirs in his splendid tussle with Paxman (no less) and call for revolution, is that there is a solution, a very clear Green manifesto that focuses on our collective needs, that maps out a clear way forward that will increase our general well being, that will rein in the abusive power of the new aristocrats of wealth, that will address both our social and global ecological crisis. It is the Green Manifesto for a Sustainable Society.

Of course Brand might find it awkward to endorse the Greens. He is part of a business, the Brand ‘brand’. He has to keep his million followers in mind. His advisers might tell him that if he endorses the Greens he will lose followers and become less interesting to the media that helps him make his money.

He knows that we are here, and perhaps, he is throwing down a challenge to us – to take a leaf out of his book, be totally up front, have the confidence of strong belief, don’t be afraid of telling it as it is, or of upsetting people or of being controversial.

We are too deferential, too concerned about the detail, about trying to balance the books about having answers to every question. Our purpose is still to shout about the big issues. There is hunger on our streets, our climate is changing, we are running out of the essentials for life and the rich are robbing our children of their future. We are too concerned with winning the intellectual argument and are failing to make emotional contact with those who should be supporting us.

So we note that towards the end of his interview with Paxo, he did declare:“I say when there is a genuine alternative, a genuine option, then vote for that. But until then, pffft, don’t bother. Why pretend? Why be complicit in this ridiculous illusion?”

Our answer is, top marks Russell. We Greens are not pretending, we are a genuine option. We Greens are not complicit. We have grown up from a party of eco-warriors to a party in which social fairness goes hand in hand with saving the biosphere.

We Greens won’t get power as in an instant majority. But we do believe in the best power of all, the power of persuasion, and are quite good at it.

Russell, be radical again with yourself, and declare you’ll vote Green in 2014 and 2015. That will give you and us the power of persuasion.

Russell Brand has thrown down a gauntlet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pkHe has forcefully stated what we all know, that the cosy Parliamentary political process works to protect the interests of the land-and-wealth-holding 1% that is manifestly uninterested in the well-being of the 99%. He also states that the majority of that 99% have lost both interest and confidence in the political process; witness the falling turn-outs in elections, that reached shockingly low levels of less that 20% in the Police Commissioner elections last year.

In advocating revolution he was giving voice to the sense of disempowerment felt among people he knew – he clearly keeps contact with his roots despite his recent acquisition of fame and wealth. He is expressing anger with the political establishment, an anger that not only he feels, but many feel as they turn away from the electoral political process and try to find some other vehicle to bring their existence and their plight to the attention to those who have power.

It is clear to us all that this Parliament is not that vehicle – and that is a tragedy. Over generations brave, selfless and far sighted people have wrested power, clause by clause, from the Barons who claimed their legitimacy from the rights of conquest. That attitude, the absolute right to hold and exercise power without question or challenge, still underpins the British Establishment. Every concession is grudgingly given. They will never rest until each is taken back and we return to the condition of serfdom. Austerity is a step in this direction, taking back our economic gain. Next will come disenfranchisement.

Brand’s initial, repeated call on people not to vote would play into the very hands he identifies as the robber’s. Not voting hurts no one but ourselves. The power structure couldn’t care less. If no one voted, they would claim power by default; they see it as theirs as of right. If people don’t bother to vote, there will be less need for them to spend their stolen money on propaganda, after all, their own faithful followers can always be relied on to turn out. Tories are more likely to vote than any other persuasion. Why bother to go to the hassle of formally disenfranchising the people if they do it to themselves? Once again we are divided against ourselves, working against our own interests and playing into the hands of our rulers and masters.

A call to revolution does have a certain heroic ring, ‘man the barricades’ – storm the citadels of power, smash a few busts of the great and pompous – then what? Historically revolution has failed to deliver a better order and the price is sickeningly high. The world is in a mess and the last thing we need is the diversion of revolution. As Brand rightly points out the planet is in danger, government is broken, and people are suffering. Parliament either doesn’t care or is powerless to act in the interest of the majority – things have to change.

But revolution? No! We just haven’t time. Revolution would set the clock back, we would have to invent new structures, go in for endless arguments, assassinations, plot and counter-plot, the wealth might change hands, but it would stay in a few hands and those hands would stay on the tiller. Remember the outcome of the Russian Revolution; new rulers, same privileges, the people still shivering out on the street, disenfranchised.

Democracy is broken and it is up to us, the Greens, to mend it. There is no one else to do it. We can do this through engagement, by making demands of Parliament, by holding Parliamentarians to account, by knowing what they are up to, by letting them know that we know what they are up to, by being aware of where the power in this country lies and by not being taken in by the propaganda machine that is the media and press. And we need a clear programme. Political protest, even revolution, without a manifesto achieves nothing. That is why Occupy fizzled out. It asked many pertinent questions but it came up with no answers. It did not develop a programme of action.

We have had two generations of protest; protest against the bomb, against war, against hunger and poverty, against cruelty, against unjust taxation, against austerity. Protest is like a safety valve, it allows people to let off steam, it lets them feel that they are doing something, it allows spokesmen for the power structure to make pious statements about listening and sharing concerns, it sends us home thinking we have taken action and nothing changes. Why? Because at the next election the ballot boxes tell a different story. People vote for the business as usual parties as they are bidden to do by the propaganda machine, and a new conservative party is installed. Those who don’t vote are dismissed as apathetic, not interested, not bothered, so no need to take account of their opinions because they have expressed no opinion.

Protest without a clear manifesto that lays out the action that we are demanding, is going to achieve nothing. We still have the bomb, we are still at war, and there is still poverty and cruelty, now joined by hunger. OK, we might have defeated the poll tax – but think why. The Tories were about to lose an election, public opinion was swinging against them, which galvanised action; they scrapped the poll tax and made us pay by raising taxes. The protests died away, they won the next election, and it was back to business as usual. The focus of protest was too narrow, there was no other programme.

We cannot argue with Russell Brand’s analysis. We are drenched in analysis, the airwaves are full of it but what we need desperately is solutions. And Brand’s initial solution will not work. It will not put us in any better position, why should it?

What really stirs in his splendid tussle with Paxman (no less) and call for revolution, is that there is a solution, a very clear Green manifesto that focuses on our collective needs, that maps out a clear way forward that will increase our general well being, that will rein in the abusive power of the new aristocrats of wealth, that will address both our social and global ecological crisis. It is the Green Manifesto for a Sustainable Society.

Of course Brand might find it awkward to endorse the Greens. He is part of a business, the Brand ‘brand’. He has to keep his million followers in mind. His advisers might tell him that if he endorses the Greens he will lose followers and become less interesting to the media that helps him make his money.

He knows that we are here, and perhaps, he is throwing down a challenge to us – to take a leaf out of his book, be totally up front, have the confidence of strong belief, don’t be afraid of telling it as it is, or of upsetting people or of being controversial.

We are too deferential, too concerned about the detail, about trying to balance the books about having answers to every question. Our purpose is still to shout about the big issues. There is hunger on our streets, our climate is changing, we are running out of the essentials for life and the rich are robbing our children of their future. We are too concerned with winning the intellectual argument and are failing to make emotional contact with those who should be supporting us.

So we note that towards the end of his interview with Paxo, he did declare:“I say when there is a genuine alternative, a genuine option, then vote for that. But until then, pffft, don’t bother. Why pretend? Why be complicit in this ridiculous illusion?”

Our answer is, top marks Russell. We Greens are not pretending, we are a genuine option. We Greens are not complicit. We have grown up from a party of eco-warriors to a party in which social fairness goes hand in hand with saving the biosphere.

We Greens won’t get power as in an instant majority. But we do believe in the best power of all, the power of persuasion, and are quite good at it.

Russell, be radical again with yourself, and declare you’ll vote Green in 2014 and 2015. That will give you and us the power of persuasion.

The Tories have unleashed the biggest assault on ordinary people for generations. It needs to be met head-on. The People’s Assembly Against Austerity is a key opportunity to bring together all those who want to stop the cuts and the ­devastation they are bringing to millions of people in the UK, and to launch the next steps in the fightback.

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity was launched with a letter to the Guardian on February 28th 2012. Two of the initial signatories were Caroline Lucas MP and Natalie Bennett.

The Green Party had voted at their conference in February to support the event and agreed to send a delegation to the People’s Assembly and to encourage local parties, regional federations and other GP bodies to also send delegations and to support future local People’s Assemblies.

People’s Assembly Against Austerity – Saturday June 22nd

This gathering is going to be a huge expression of opposition to “austerity” and privatisation involving all the main Trade Unions, local Trades Union Councils, local and national anti-cuts groups, campaign groups focused on NHS, Education, Housing, the People’s Charter, Coalition of Resistance and the Green Party. Most of the policies that the People’s Assembly are advancing are Green Party policies

Derby People’s Assembly – A new local “networking” group has been formed in Derby made up of individuals and people representing local groups concerned with issues such as Climate Change, Taxation, NHS etc. Two Green Party Members attended the initial meeting. The aim of the meeting was twofold: to publicise the national gathering in London on 22nd June and to arrange a follow up event in Derby in the Autumn.

The time has come for us, the People, to make our voice heard. We are a democracy. We must demand that the Government uses the power and money we give it to serve our interests, and not just those of the wealthy vested interests that are controlling politics. Austerity will never succeed because the economic crisis was not caused by public spending. We must demand that the government we elected adopts policies that address the causes of the financial crisis. We must demand that they invest in our future to build a sustainable economy. We must make it clear that if this Government will not listen to us, we will elect one that will.

“The people of this country are desperate for change. The only problem is that the main parties haven’t changed. The change the public is demanding simply isn’t on offer from the others. They’re all content with the kind of deregulated turbo-capitalism that has plunged us into recession, and all just as eager to get back to precisely the business as usual that led to the economic and environmental collapse. We are the Party that is ready to address the grave challenges this country faces, from tackling climate change to restoring faith in public services to restoring our reputation as a force for peace and justice internationally.”

Here in Derbyshire:

Peter Allen is Green Party Candidate in the High Peak. Peter says:

“The Green Party offers a programme for a whole new way of living, based on social justice and sustainable development.”

Lee Fletcher is Green Party Candidate in Erewash. Lee says:

“This election is about us, our society, our future. I want to see fairness and justice put back onto the political agenda. A better world for us all.”

“The people of this country are desperate for change. The only problem is that the main parties haven’t changed. The change the public is demanding simply isn’t on offer from the others. They’re all content with the kind of deregulated turbo-capitalism that has plunged us into recession, and all just as eager to get back to precisely the business as usual that led to the economic and environmental collapse. We are the Party that is ready to address the grave challenges this country faces, from tackling climate change to restoring faith in public services to restoring our reputation as a force for peace and justice internationally.”

Here in Derbyshire:

Peter Allen is Green Party Candidate in the High Peak. Peter says:

“The Green Party offers a programme for a whole new way of living, based on social justice and sustainable development.”

Lee Fletcher is Green Party Candidate in Erewash. Lee says:

“This election is about us, our society, our future. I want to see fairness and justice put back onto the political agenda. A better world for us all.”

The Green Party knows that there is a housing crisis across Britain. We believe that access to affordable secure housing is a human right. In the High Peak nearly 4000 households are on the housing waiting list, yet less than 500 council and housing association homes were let in 2008/9. To address this shortfall the government requires around 5,000 additional homes to be built in the High Peak by 2026. We accept that some new building is necessary but we would plan new housing on the basis of independent housing needs surveys. Builders’ representatives have far too much influence over planning policy at present. Green policy requires that new homes are built to high energy efficiency standards and sited to minimise their impact on the environment. Existing homes should benefit from a nationwide insulation programme, reducing carbon emissions and creating Green Jobs. An immediate priority is to make better use of existing homes and buildings. Local authorities must use their powers to bring empty properties into use. It is wrong that wealthy second homeowners leave holiday property empty while local people are denied a home.

Peter Allen is your Green Party candidate in the High Peak. He continues:

The Green Party offers the voice of hope in Britain today. Our vision is for a fair and sustainable society. We have policies that tackle the economic and environmental crisis. After the election of Barack Obama in the US, for a moment the world dared to hope. That hope is now fading. The unwinnable war in Afghanistan has got worse. Despite the economic crisis that they caused, greedy bankers are still paying themselves massive and totally unjustified bonuses. Nothing was achieved at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Nevertheless the hope and expectation that brought Obama to power remains. To quote Naomi Klein, “What the election and the global embrace of Obama’s brand proved decisively is that there is a tremendous appetite for progressive change; that many, many people do not want markets opened at gunpoint, are repelled by torture, believe passionately in civil liberties, want corporations out of politics, see global warming as the fight of our time, and to be part of a political project larger than themselves.”

We need to build a movement for radical change. Will you help us by getting involved (email: getinvolved@derbyshiregreenparty.org.uk) or by making a donation? Cheques, payable to Derbyshire Green Party can be sent to Slatelands House, Slatelands Rd, Glossop, Sk13 6LH